BLAST Bounty kicks off without NAVI and defending champions PARIVISION

The online stage of BLAST Bounty Season 2 2026 kicks off today, the first S-Tier tournament played on CS2's new map pool with Cache back in rotation. But the map isn't the real story here. It's the roster list. NAVI, the world's number two team, and PARIVISION, last year's defending champions, are both sitting this one out, leaving the door wide open for Falcons, who arrive fresh off winning the Cologne Major.

Cache is back, and the format punishes a single bad map

Cache replaced Overpass in the active duty pool, and Valve reworked C4 explosion mechanics in the same patch. This is the first tournament at this level played under the new patch, so it's the first real look at how pro teams build their vetoes around the returning map. The format raises the stakes further: the online stage runs single-elimination best-of-three, meaning one bad map pick can end a favorite's run just as fast as an underdog's.

Two absences that outweigh half the field

NAVI, still ranked world number two, are reworking their roster and need time for new players to settle in before throwing them into a real test. PARIVISION, last year's BLAST Bounty champions, are rebuilding after a rough Cologne Major and chose to sit out too. Legacy (#6), BetBoom (#14), and B8 (#16) are also absent, with no official reason given. The four open wildcard spots went to Liquid, 100 Thieves, EYEBALLERS, and OG.

Who can actually win this

Falcons enter as the reigning Cologne Major champions and the obvious favorite, but the pressure of being the team to beat after a Major is a different kind of pressure than defending a title in a best-of-three bracket where one slip-up ends your run. At the same time, Aurora, MOUZ, The MongolZ, and HEROIC are all playing their first S-Tier event with reworked lineups, so nobody knows yet how these rosters hold up under real pressure. That makes the bracket more wide open than the entry list alone would suggest.

SPAWNSY verdict